Arends: "Wall Street Wins, Main Street Pays"

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-wins-main-street-pays-again-2010-12-21?pagenumber=2


Brett Arends' ROI Dec. 21, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST titled: "The great bank heist of 2010
Commentary: Wall Street wins, Main Street pays — again"

Some excerpts from Arends' article:

"Look at the chaos and catastrophe these guys have left in their wake. One middle-aged man in five is out of work. Tens of millions of families have been financially wiped out. The national debt has nearly doubled.

If inner-city gangs had done this to America, we’d have martial law. If Arabs had done it, we’d have launched another war.

Wall Street bankers? They’ve walked away scot free. And they’re actually being rewarded....

...And in a perfect circle of cynicism, the beneficiaries of bailouts are now spending some of their loot lobbying our Congress to overrule us on reform.

The commercial banks and investment firms spent a total of $118 million lobbying just in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics....

...Most Americans don’t realize it, but this talk of a “grassroots” and “anti-establishment” election was a bunch of hooey. What really happened was that Wall Street has just bought itself a new, even more compliant Congress.

The new Republicans are already fawning over the bankers. They’re promising to stop the restrictions on (ahem) “financial innovation.”...

...It was the greatest heist in history. The bankers pulled it off under everyone’s nose..."